Opposition to the University of Ottawa Executive Compensation Program

As some of you may already know, on February 3, the Central administration tabled the University of Ottawa Executive Compensation Program. This Program is proposing significant salary increase for five senior executive positions.

Here is a breakdown of the proposed increases:

Position

Current salary

Proposed increase

Total if salary increase is approved

President

$ 395,000

$ 59,600

$ 454,600

Vice-President Academic and Provost

$ 297,000

$ 53,500

$ 350,500

Vice-President Research

$ 297,677

$ 2,123

$ 299,800

Vice-President Resources

$ 270,000

$ 28,700

$ 298,700

Vice-President External Relations

$ 300,000

$ 11,900

$ 311,900

Over the last decade, the University administration has adopted austerity budgets, forcing the community as a whole to work towards a common vision, Destination 2020, with fewer resources. In the last two years alone, the Central administration has imposed 4% budgetary cuts to all Faculties, cuts to the library, and continuously increases the workload of professors, librarians, and support staff, all-the-while increasing student tuition fees. These cuts have a direct impact on this institution’s ability to fulfill its strategic mandate, which is, delivering the highest quality of education and research, and improving the student experience.

The University of Ottawa Executive Compensation Program is available in full here. The APUO is vehemently opposed to this Executive Compensation Program proposal and urges its members, and the community as a whole, to participate in the ongoing consultation. To help facilitate participation, the APUO has created a template letter highlighting our concerns with the Executive Compensation Program. We encourage you to visit the following link to quickly and easily send a letter. The link will take you to the APUO’s drafted template letter, which you can edit and personalize. Moreover, at your next departmental unit meeting, we encourage you to adopt a motion similar to the one adopted by our colleagues in the School of Political Studies to collectively express your disapproval of the proposals found in the Executive Compensation Program. You have until March 2, 2018, to participate in the consultation.